Cotton crop decline in Pakistan
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ISLAMABAD: (APP) The Cotton Crop Assessment Committee (CCAC) would meet during next week to assess the size and volume of the crop in the country during current sowing season.
All the stakeholders including provincial departments of agriculture would attend the meeting and give their input to assess the size of crop and future volume of cotton production in the country, Cotton Commissioner in the Ministry of Textile Industry, Dr. Khalid Abdullah said.
Talking to APP here on Thursday, he said the cotton crop outlook was satisfactory as, so far pressure of pest attack on crop was recorded at lower level, hence a bumper output was expected during current season.
However, he said that overall cotton crop sowing witnessed 15 percent decrease as compared to sowing of last year, adding that crop sowing was reduced by 14 percent in Punjab, where as it had witnessed about 2 percent increase in the Sindh Province.
The main reason behind decrease of cotton sowing was the shifting of cotton to sugarcane, lower prices and market fluctuation, besides high input cost and low rate of return, he added.
He said that government was determined to achieve 14 million bales of cotton production during current season by improving the crop management and controlling the pest attack.
Dr. Abdullah said that Ministry of Textile Industry had also trained 60 master trainers which had trained over 6,000 farmers and field extension workers of agriculture departments.
They were trained about the pest management, crop health and rain management to avoid any harmful impact of rains in the crop, he added.
He said that the scientists of Pakistan Central Cotton Committee (PCCC) has also developed a prediction module to predict pink bollworm attacks in cotton crop.
The module is equipped with early warning system which would predict the pest attack on the crop and issue a warning alert to farmers 10 days before and help to overcome any pest attack.
